Walter j



(No Model.)

W. J. DREW.

CARPET SWEEPER.

No. 405,084. Patented June 11, 1889.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WVALTER J. DREIV, OF GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN, ASSIGNOR TO THE BISSELLCARPET S'WEEPER COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

CARPET-SWEEPER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 405,084, dated June 111889.

Application filed April 11, 1888 Serial No. 270,337. (No model.)

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, WALTER J. DREW, a citizen of the United States,residingat Grand Rapids, in the county of Kent, State of Michigan, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Carpet-Sweepers, ofwhich the following is a full, clear, and exact specification.

This invention has for its object to provide a carpetsweeper with abrush-carrying shaft that can freely rise and fall independently of itsdriving mechanism, whereby the brush will uniformly bear upon the carpetor other surface traversed.

I 5 The object of my invention I accomplish in the manner and by themeans hereinafter described and claimed, reference being made to theaccompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a side elevation, partly insection, of a carpet-sweeper embodying my invention; and Fig. 2, alongitudinal sectional view of the brush-carrying shaft, showing onemeans of loosely or flexibly attaching the driving wheel or pulleythereto.

2 5 In order to enable those skilled in the art to make and use myinvention, I will now describe the same in detail, referring to thedrawings, where the numeral 1 indicates a carpetsweeper casing, 2 thedust-pans, 3 the propelling-handle, and 4' the supporting drivewheels,all of which may be of any construction suitable for the conditionsrequired. The cylindrical brush 5, of any desired material, is carriedby a shaft 6, having at one or both ends a driving wheel or pulley 8,which is loosely or flexibly connected with the shaft,

by'means that Will permit the shaft to freely rise and fall independentof a corresponding rising-and-falling movement of the wheel or 40pulley. I show a driving wheel or pulley at each end of the brush-shaftdriven by frictional contact with the supporting drivewheels 4; but I donot confine myself to friction driving mechanism, nor to a drivingwheelat each end of the brush-carrying shaft. I prefer, however, adriving-pulley 8 at each end, and as one means of connection I provideeach pulley with a bar or rod 7, having its inner end pivoted in arecess in the end of the shaft, which recess is of such size that theshaft can freely rise and fall at one or both ends without impartingcorresponding rising and falling movements to the shaft driving pulleys8. In certain carpet-sweepers the pulleys 8 may be supported by pivots 9entering orifices in the pulleys; but this constitutes no part of thepresent invention.

The pulleys 8 may be permanently or detachably secured to the bars orrods; but whatever connection is employed, it is requisite .60 that thebrush-shaft be loosely or flexibly connected with its driving wheel orpulley, so that the brush-shaft gravitates to the floor and is capableof freely rising and falling independent of the entire drivingmechanism. By this invention the brush accommodates itself to thesurface traversed and bears uniformly thereupon, and when the sweeperrests upon the floor the brush is raised, and thereby places the looseor flexible connections -7 in a position such as shown in Fig. 1, sothat the tendency of the brush-shaft to center the said flexibleconnections by centrifugal action tends to throw the brush down againstthe floor, thus producing a contact which is close in proportion to thespeed of revolution of the brushcarrying shaft.

Carpet-sweepers have heretofore been provided with brush-carrying shaftsjournaled in vertical slots, for the purpose of utilizing the weight ofthe shaft to press the brush on the carpet; but in all such sweepersprior to my invention the brush-driving wheel is rigidly attached to thebrush-shaft, while in my invention the brush-shaft is so connected withits driving-wheel that the brush-shaft can rise and fall independent ofthe said drivingwheel.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is o 1. A brush-carrying shaft for a carpetsweeper having its driving wheel or pulleyloosely or flexibly connected therewith to permit the shaft to rise andfall independent of the said driving wheel or pulley, substantially 5 asdescribed.

2. The combination, with acarpet-sweeper casing having drivingmechanism, of a brushcarrying shaft having a loosely or flexibly attached driving wheel or pulley and capable roo of rising and fallingindependent of said driv- In testimony whereof I afiix my signature inlo ing wheel or pulley, substantially as described. presence of twowitnesses.

The combination, with a sweeper-easing and driving mechanism, of abrush-driving \VALTER J. DREW. 5 Wheel having a bar 01' red, and abrush-carrying shaft loosely 0r flexibly connected with \Vitnesses: thebar or red and capable of rising and fall- ARTHUR O. DENISON, ingindependent 01"; the said driving Wheel 01' CHAS. B. J UDD. pulley,substantially as described.

